manner than by the point or graver. This is called | grounding-tool is then held perpendicularly on it, a roulette, a kind of toothed wheel, resembling a and rocked with moderate pressure backwards and spur, moving on a pivot, but with from three to six forwards, till the teeth of the tool have equally and or eight rows of points; so that by running this along regularly marked the copper from side to side; the the face of the plate, a large surface or shadow can operation is afterwards repeated from end to end, be produced in a very short time. This is, however, and from each corner to the opposite; but it is necesquite inapplicable to the finer kinds of work, as the sary to observe, that the tool must never be permitmechanical regularity of the dots cannot be con- ted to cut twice in the same place; by this means the cealed without much labour. We have given a repre- surface is converted into a rough chaos of intersecsentation of stippling, plate xxxv, fig. 8. tions, which, if covered with ink and printed, would Aqua Tinto. We gave an account of this species present a perfectly black impression upon the paper. of engraving, as practised on the continent where Some modern artists have found that it is much more it was originally invented. See article Aqua Tinto, easy and expeditious to grain the plate by only bringpage, 217, vol. 1. The British artists have greatly ing the grounding tool twice over it. This practice improved upon it. The first thing is to etch or dry- produces a much more dotty and richer effect, and point, an outline of the subject in the manner which saves half the time besides. No outline is made on we have already described. The plate is then pro- the copper, but the picture is divided into squares, perly cleaned with whitening, so as effectually to and a similar number of smaller lots drawn on the remove any grease. A solution of resin is used as a copper with a black-lead pencil. This is the most ground. The resin is reduced into a powder, more tedious part of the process. The rest, to a skilful or less fine, according to the kind of subject to be artist, is much more easy than line-engraving or stiprepresented, and put into a bottle with spirit of wine. pling. It consists in pressing down or rubbing out The plate is placed in any vessel, sloping in an the roughness of the plate, by means of the burnisher inclined plane of about fifteen degrees; and the com- and scraper, to the extent of the intended figure, position of the spirit of wine and resin poured over obliterating the ground for lights, and leaving it for its surface in a slow and uniform manner, taking care shades. Where a strong light is required, the whole to cover the face of the plate without having to repeat ground is erased. For a medium light it is modethe operation; the spirit of wine will run off, and berately burnished, or partially erased. For the deepcaught in the vessel, and what remains will soon dissipate, leaving a beautiful and uniform surface of the particles of the resin, which will adhere firmly to the copper. The outline can be distinctly seen through this transparent ground, and the biting or corrosion, is proceeded with as before directed. When this is completed, the parts which require rounding must be done with the scraper and burnisher. Mr Robert Scott, engraver, Edinburgh, has most successfully applied this art on steel, and has produced many plates, so well executed that it is with difficulty they can be distinguished from India ink drawings. We have given a specimen of these by his own hand, plate xxxv, fig. 5. It may be easily conceived that there is some difficulty in producing spirited touches in landscapes, or in giving freedom to the foliage, by the method of Simply stopping up with varnish; to obviate which a very ingenious plan has been devised, by which the touches are laid on the plate with the same ease as India-ink on a drawing. The finest quality of whiting must be mixed with a little treacle, and diluted with vater. The touches are then made with a camel Fair pencil. The whole plate is then covered with a varnish of turpentine and asphaltuun, and permitted to dry. When the acid is applied, it will be found that those places which have been touched with the whiting and treacle will immediately break up, and expose those touches to the action of the acid, while the other parts of the plate will completely resist it. Engraving in Mezzotinto differs entirely from the manner above described. This method of producing prints, which resemble drawings in India-ink, is said by Evelyn, in his history of chalcography, to have been discovered by prince Rupert. Some accounts say that he learned the art from an officer named Siegen, or Sichem, in the service of Hesse-Cassel. It has been, for many years past, a very favourite way of engraving portraits and historical subjects; of the former, the large heads of Fry are of superior excellence. The tools required for this easy and rapid mode of proceeding are, the grounding tool, the scraper, and the burnisher. The copper-plate should be prepared as if intended for the graver, and laid flat upon a table, with a piece of flannel spread under it, to prevent the plate from slipping; the est shades the ground is left entire. Care is taken to preserve the insensible gradations of light and shade, upon which the effect and harmony of the piece essentially depend. Engraving in mezzotinto approaches more nearly to the effect of oil paintings than any other species, from the strong and broad effects of light and shadow which it is capable of producing. It is well calculated for the representation of obscure pieces, such as night scenes, &c. The principal objection to the method is, that the plates wear out speedily under the press, and, of course, yield a comparatively small number of impressions. But, since the use of steel plates has been discovered, a much greater number of impressions can be taken off, although much fewer than in line and other engravings. We have given a representation of this style, pl. xxxv, fig. 6. Etching with soft ground. Common etching ground is taken and rendered soft by the admixture of an equal quantity of oil or tallow. A ground is then put on the plate with a dauber, in the same manner as in common etching. When cold, a piece of silk is drawn tightly over the surface of the plate, and above it is placed a piece of white paper. The subject to be represented is drawn on the paper by means of a hard black-lead pencil, while strong pressure is used. By this means the ground adheres to the silk, and leaves the copper exposed; so that, by being subjected to the process of biting, a picture is produced, wherein the lines are very soft, having all the appearance of a drawing in black chalk. This process may be applied to either landscapes, figures, or, in short, anything else; and, from the rapid manner in which it can be executed, is useful in giving representations of subjects where a large surface requires to be covered. See plate xxxv, fig. 4. Engraving in IVood has been practised for several centuries, and originally with tolerable success; it languished for a great part of the eighteenth century, but revived towards the close, and is still practised in a manner which reflects credit on the ingenuity of the age. The person to whom we are most indebted for its restoration was the late Thomas Bewick, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The fidelity of expression and drawing, in his History of Quadrupeds and British Birds, attracted universal admiration: and, although these have been excelled, in point of execu tion, by more modern artists, yet they have never | been surpassed in accuracy of drawing, and the characteristic portraiture of the animals. The lines, instead of being cut into the substance, are raised, like the letters of printing types, and printed in the same manner. The wood used for this purpose is box, which is preferred for the hardness and closeness of its texture. It is cut across the grain, into pieces of the height of common types, that the engraving may be made upon the end of the grain, as it is impossible to cut lines running with the grain or thread of the wood. For the coarser kinds of work, planetree, and even beech, are used; but these have neither firmness of texture nor hardness of substance for the finer engravings. The surface must be planed smooth, and the design drawn on it with a black-lead pencil; the graver is then used, the finer excavations which are intended for white interstices between the black lines are produced by cutting lines on the surface of the wood, and the greatest lights are made by cutting away the wood entirely of the intended form, length, and breadth; but the deepest shades require no engraving. The most difficult part of this art is the production of black lines crossing or intersecting each other; which will be better understood by an examination of the following wood-engraving of a boy writing: These black lines will be noticed in the shadow beneath the chin on the left side, and also on the knees and left ancle. They can only be executed, with great labour, by picking out with the graver the interstices between these raised black lines. Crossing with white lines, on the other hand, is very easy; a slight specimen of it will be noticed in the under side of the shadow of the pedestal. These are produced by simply cutting lines across with the graver. Some have imagined that the earlier engravers on wood had some mechanical and easy contrivance for the production of black cross lines, from the great quantity of these to be met with in their works; more particularly in the prints of Albert Durer. Much of the beauty of this kind of engraving depends upon the printing. A recent improvement has been made in wood engraving, which is this: The blocks are prepared as before, and covered with flake white. The drawing is then made on this, and the wood engraver has only to cut out the lights. The beautiful wood cuts, executed by Branston and Wright, for the Tower menagerie and Zoological gardens (after designs by Harvey), recently published in London, are executed in this manner, and are the finest things of the kind which have been executed in any country. Wood engravings have this advantage, that they may be inserted in a page of common types, and printed without separate expense. They are very durable, and may be multiplied by the process of stereotyping. The tools used in this art are very varied, such as chisels, both flat and hollow, as also round, for cutting out the back-grounds, and common, square, lozenge, and knife-grooves for executing the lines. Coloured Engravings. Coloured engravings are variously executed. The most common are printed in black outline, and afterwards painted separately in water-colours. Sometimes a surface is produced by aquatinto, or stippling, and different colours applied in printing, to different parts, care being taken to wipe off the colours in opposite directions, that they may not interfere with each other. But the most perfect as well as the most elaborate productions, are those which are first printed in colours, and afterwards painted by hand. Engravers, Modern. Among modern nations, the Italians, French, Germans, and English have rivalled each other in producing great works in the department of engraving; but, on the whole, the superiority seems to belong to the British both for the number and the value of their productions: and the French are more particularly famous for the excellence of their impressions. Many great works, executed in Germany, are sent to Paris to be struck off. In Germany, Frederic von Muller, whose Madonna di S. Sisto is still a jewel in collections, died too early for the art. C. Rahl distinguished himself by his engraving of Fra Bartholomoe's Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and of Raphael's St Margaret. K. Hess, Reindel, Umer (lately deceased), Leybold, Lutz, and A. Kessler have produced fine cabinet-pieces. John in Vienna, Kobell in Munich, Barth, Amsler and Rushweyh in Rome, are distinguished in different branches. Chodowiecki, Banse, Bolt, Clemens, Gmelin, and many others, have contributed much to advance the art of engraving. In general, it may be mentioned as a favourable sign of the times, that all the first artists in Germany apply their talents to great works, whilst the taste for Souvenir engravings seems rapidly dying away. Those engravers who have produced the best plates for scientific works, so very important a branch of the art, and those in the department of geography, would deserve to be mentioned if we had room. France has maintained her early fame, in the art of engraving, down to the most recent times. The engravings of A. Boucher-Desnoyers (for instance, the Madonna di Foligno, La Vierge, dite La Belle Jardinière, Francis I., and Margaret of Navarre, Phædre and Hippolyte, the portrait of the Prince de Benevento) are acknowledged masterpieces. Lignon's St Cæcilia from Domenichino, his Atala, his portrait of Mademoiselle Mars; Massard's St Cæcilia of Raphael, and Apollo with the Muses of Giulio Romano; Richomme's, Dien's, Girodet's, Gudin's, Audouin's plates, no less magnificently than carefully executed; Jazet's large pieces in aquatinto (for instance, from the paintings of Vernet)-all manifest how rich France is in great engravers. Neither ought we to forget the magnificent literary works, almost constantly published in France, which owe their ornaments to the skill of French engravers. In the most recent productions of the French engravers, an imitation of the school of Morghen is observable; whilst some young Italian and German artists have aimed at something higher than even Morghen's productions. Since the art of painting has ceased to produce many works worthy of multiplication by the burin of the first engravers, these have occupied themselves chiefly with ancient masterpieces, and engraving has taken a higher station among the fine arts. Morghen, the pupil of Vol others. For more highly finished productions, in John pato, and those who have followed him, have produced works before unequalled. The Milanese school of engravers in particular, has reached a degree of perfection, through Anderloni and Longhi, which no other country can probably equal. Longhi's Sposalizio is as yet the greatest production in the art of engraving. Toschi, of Parma, has acquired immortality by his Entrance of Henry IV. into Paris (from Gérard), Schaivone, by his Ascension of the Holy Virgin (from the painting of Titian), which may be called perfect, in regard to its pic-fine arts, though it cannot be expected that a country ture-like effect. Bettelini, Bonato, Gandolffi, Garavaglia, Fontana Rosaspina, Benoglio, Gilberti, Palmerini, Poporati, Pavon, (by birth a Spaniard, however,) Rainaldi and Rampoldi have produced beautifully finished engravings; and Luigi Rossini and Pinelli have etched scenes full of life. Splendid works, in which typography and chalcography unite their attractions, have appeared at Florence, Venice, Rome, and Milan. But England is richer in such works than all other countries. The productions of Earlom, Pether, Dixon, Green, are much esteemed. John Brown was one of the best landscape engrav-guished in wood engravings, we would mention the ers of his day, and distinguished himself in his copies from the ancient masters. He had the merit of producing as a pupil William Woollet, the most eminent engraver which had appeared down to his own time, his works being excellent, both in landscape and figures. Need we mention his Dido and Eneas, as a landscape, and his immortal print of The Death of General Wolfe, after West, the finest historical engraving which had then been executed. So highly was it valued, that proof impressions have been known to bring from £30 to £40 at sales. The prints of William Sharp and James Heath, were, and are still held in high estimation; they excelled in figures of a large size, while Neagle, Anken, Smith, and Charles Warren, became distinguished for the beauty and excellence of smaller gures. All these were confined to the metropolis of Britain, but contemporary with them sprung up a solitary individual of distinguished taste, in Edinburgh, the present Robert Scott. His merit became known in London, and Warren associated himself with him. In some of the beautiful illustrations for Cook's edition of the British poets, Warren engraved the figures, and Scott the landscapes; these exceeded everything of the kind which had before been executed in any country. Mr Scott, in addition to his own claims as an engraver, has the merit of having been the master and teacher of, perhaps, the greatest engraver which has ever appeared; namely, John Burnet; whose prints, after Wilkie, in all that appertains to the art of engraving, excel every other which have yet been executed. This eminent individual not only ranks at the head of his profession as an engraver, but stands high as a painter, as his Greenwich Pensioners, and other paintings, sufficiently demonstrate. Scott has also the merit of having taught James Stewart, and John Horsburgh, both eminent in their profession. Charles Heath has long stood high as a figure engraver. We have now in the same department, Edward Finden, the first living artist for small figures, and a host of others; while in small landscapes, William Miller of Edinburgh, stands at the top of the tree. Holloway's plates taken from Raphael's cartoons, in Hampton court, are praised as high specimens of the art, With the Dutch, the burin is, at present, not very successful, if we compare their present artists to the former school of Pontius and Edelinck. But for picturesque etchings and productions by the needle, the skill formerly displayed has been preserved by Troostwyk, Van Os, Overbeck, Jansen, Chalon, and Engraving on precious Stones is accomplished with the diamond or emery. The diamond possesses the peculiar property of resisting every body in nature, and, though the hardest of all stones, it may be cut by a part of itself, and polished by its own particles. In order to render this splendid substance fit to perform the operations of the tool, two rough diamonds are cemented fast to the ends of the same number of sticks, and rubbed together till the form is obtained for which they are intended; the powder thus produced is preserved, and used for polishing them in a kind of mill furnished with a wheel of iron; the diamond is then secured in a brazen dish, and the dust, mixed with olive-oil, applied; the wheel is set in motion, and the friction occasions the polished surface so necessary to give their lustre due effect. Other stones, as rubies, topazes, and sapphires, are cut into various angles on a wheel of copper; and the material for polishing those is tripoli diluted with water. A leaden wheel, covered with emery, mixed with water, is preferred for the cutting of emeralds, amethysts, hyacinths, agates, granites, &c. &c.; and they are polished on a pewter wheel with tripoli; opal, lapis lazuli, &c., are polished on a wheel made of wood. Contrary to the method used by persons who turn metals, in which the substance to be wrought is fixed in the lathe, turned by it, and the tool held, to the substance, the engraver of the crystal, lapis lazuli, &c., fixes his tools in the lathe, and holds the The value of the intervals are: Key note, Fifth, 31 5 Minor sixth, 36 8 Major sixth, 39 14 17 + Major seventh, 48 22 + Minor seventh, 45 precious stone to them, thus forming vases, or any other shape, by interposing diamond dust mixed with oil, or emery and water, between the tool and the substance, as often as it is dispersed by the rotatory motion of the former. The engraving of armorial bearings, single figures, devices, &c., on any of the above stones, after they are polished, is performed through the means of a small iron wheel, the ends of the axis of which are received within two pieces of iron, in a perpendicular position, that may be closed, or otherwise, as the operation requires; the tools are fixed to one end of the axis, and screwed firm; the stone to be engraved is then held to the tool, the wheel set in motion by the foot, and the figure gradually formed. The material of which the tools are made is gener-nances have paddles in their usual places on fingerally iron, and sometimes brass: some are flat, like chisels, gouges, ferules, and others have circular heads. After the work is finished, the polishing is done with hair brushes fixed on wheels and tripoli. ENGROSSING, in law, denotes the writing a deed over fair, and in proper, legible characters; also, the getting into one's possession, or buying up large quantities of corn, or other provisions, with the intention of selling them again. The dissonances marked †, however, have less usual forms, which may be expressed by the numbers in order, 6, 9, 44, 47. The compass of the instrument is three octaves, terminating in G alto, having three stops and as many finger-boards. The lowest is employed for the key of C, the paddle of the tonic being red. The more ordinary forms of the dissoboards; the acute forms are white, and the grave black, so that they are to be taken of the same colour as the notes with which they are to make perfect concords. The second finger-board is adapted to the key of G, and the third to that of E; and, in order to extend the power of the instrument to other keys, there are introduced in all the three boards additional notes, having finger-keys, in form similar to those on the flute, by which means the performer can take any key from four flats to five sharps. We embrace this early opportunity of laying before our musical readers a new, and extremely simple method, never before published, of the transposition of regular and irregular keys, discovered by the Rev. T. Gordon of Falkirk, and which leads to conclusions illustrative of the enharmonic interval. The account we give in his own words. The principle on which this method is founded, may be thus stated: ENHARMONIC; the epithet given, by the ancient Greeks, to that of their three genera, which consisted of quarter tones, and major thirds. They however, had originally another kind of enharmonic, more simple, and easier of execution than this, and upon which the quarter tones or dieses were considered, by the theorists of the old school, as innovations too refined and artificial. In our common keyed instruments, such as the piano forte, the octave is divided into 12 semitonic intervals, the sharp of one tone being regarded as the flat of the next above. All keys with sharp signatures ascend in the naThis causes an error of a quarter tone on the enhar- tural forward order of the musical alphabet, and in monic interval in the compass of the octave, which the arithmetical series, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; accompanied may be easily proved on the piano forte. Thus, in the same alphabetical order by their ascending tune a perfect major third from C to E, and another sharp signatures; and, vice versa, all keys with flat third from E to G, sharp, then will the G sharp be signatures descend in the reverse backward order of a perfect major seventh to A, in the scale of C, A the alphabet of music, and in the arithmetical series being the major sixth to C. Again, if A flat be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; accompanied in the same alphatuned a major third below C, it will be true as a per-betical order by their descending flat signatures. fect fourth in the scale of E flat, which is the third minor to C. We have now got by perfect tuning, GB, C, E, and F, which point out the places and dissharp, and A flat, which ought to coincide, if the scale consisted of twelve equal intervals, but on trial they will be found to differ by a quarter tone on the enharmonic interval. It is the existence of this interval which causes those slight deviations from perfect chords in the tuning of keyed instruments, called temperament. The defect of the organ arising from the occurrence of the enharmonic interval has been the subject of much discussion among musicians, and several attempts have been made to procure perfect harmony, by the introduction of new tones and keys. Very recently an enharmonic organ has been constructed by Robson and Son, of London, which has called forth a very valuable paper in the Westminster Review for January 1835. In that paper, the writer, in order to explain the nature of the enharmonic organ, lays down what he denominates the Normal scale, in which he gives the numerical value of the various intervals in the octave, regarding it as divided into fifty-three equal parts; before giving which, however, it will be necessary to observe that the dissonances, i. e. the major and minor second and major and minor seventh are double, or have sometimes an acute and sometimes a grave form, the difference being a comma. The acute form makes just concords with the third and fifth, and the grave with the fourth and sixth. In this article s signifies SHARP, ƒ FLAT, and л NATURAL. 1. There are four letters in the natural scale, i. e. tances of semitones, from their natural keys. Two of these letters, namely, B and E, may be denominated natural sharps, for, like all artificial semitonic sharps, they are immediately beneath the semitones. All these artificial semitonic sharps,. which mark the places and distances of semitones in relation to artificial transposed keys, are in the natural forward order of the alphabet transpositions of B and E, and all these artificial semitonic flats which mark the places and distances of semitones in relation to artificial transposed keys, are in the reverse order of the alphabet transpositions of F and C, two letters which may be denominated the natural flat associates of B and E in bringing out the semitones of the natural scale; inasmuch as, like all semitonic flats of artificial transposed keys, they are immediately above the semitones. Hence, if we would give a complete transposition of C major with B and E, of A minor with B and E, we have only to raise these keys one, two, three, four, five, six places higher on the stave than their natural places, and to mark the transpositions of B and E with sharp signatures. Again, A minor, with F and C, and C major with F and C, are also completely transposed by lowering them one, two, three, four, five, six places on the stave, and by marking the transpositions of F and C with flat signatures. We shall exhibit this process in columns. The natural and artificial keys shall be designated by capital letters, the letters or notes |